Part of the problem with New Year's Resolutions is that you go from not doing them at all on December 31st to taking them seriously on January 1st. If your resolutions are big behavioral changes, changing your habits without thinking them through can be a recipe for failure. Give those resolutions a 30-day trial run in December where you try, let yourself stumble, and figure out the best way to change your lifestyle so you can succeed when the new year starts.

Christopher S Penn explains that trying to do something like hit the gym three days a week or give up smoking on January 1st when you've been slacking all year or smoking regularly up to and through New Year's Eve is never a great way to get started, especially when the changes you want to make will require other lifestyle changes as well. He proposes taking December to, for example, figure out how your "join a gym and actually go" resolution will impact your schedule and finances, and then give it a shot so you have time to make changes and "debug" your new behavior before the beginning of the year.

If December 1st is too soon for you, there's no reason you can't use January as your 30-day trial run. The important thing is to give yourself a little room to get organized and plan out your resolution before you go after it full-steam. Doing so will increase your chances of success, and make that fresh start at the beginning of the new year a little easier to handle.

Are you thinking about your new year's resolutions yet? Do you have any plans for the new year already, or do you usually wait until late December to even think about it? Let's hear it in the comments below.